Roman Holiday
"Roman Holiday" is the first track on Nicki Minaj's sophomore studio album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, released originally on April 2, 2012. The song was first planned to be the third promotional single from Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded on February 12, 2012, but the decision was later changed to "Roman Reloaded".The song and video is a prequel to "Roman In Moscow". The song was first heard and performed at the 54th Grammy Awards on February 12, 2012. The performance begins with Minaj singing "Roman's Revenge" in her alter ego, Roman Zolanski while in a confessional along with a different chorus to the same song, one that was previously used in a leaked demo of the song. A title screen appears once Roman finishes singing the chorus with the words "The Exorcism of Roman". Two previously videotaped scenes playing: one showing Martha Zolanski thanking a priest for coming to see the troubled Roman and the other is conversation between the priest and Roman. The live performance and Roman Holiday soon begin as Roman is seen chained to a wooden board while hooded priests dance around him. He shortly breaks free, joins the others in dancing, and appears to pray for a brief second. Another priest, possibly one with more authority and power as he has different clothing than the others, begins an exorcism on Roman. After a couple moments, the priest falls back as Roman levitates. (The exorcism has failed for no one can change Roman from who he truly is.) The performance ends with Roman saying, "Mother, forgive me." The chorus, "Take your medication, Roman...", sung by Martha, is voiced by Marissa Bregman. Controversy Bill Donahue of the conservative watch group, The Catholic League, criticized the performance. "Whether Minaj is possessed is surely an open question, but what is not in doubt is the irresponsibility of The Recording Academy". Choreographer Laurieann Gibson, however, said ""I personally chose to stay away from any religious moves. There were no crosses. There were no religious symbols. We made sure we were very respectable. The bishop was a symbolic figurehead. He was not intended in a negative light, but in a position of authority". Minaj told Ryan Seacrest ""It's the most comfortable I've ever been onstage in my entire life." She told radio station Power 105.1 "“(Roman Holiday) was my best performance ever and if everybody didn’t agree you can… That was my best performance ever, ever. But can I say something, I did a skit on my ‘Right Through Me,’ I did a skit on ‘Moment for Life’ video, I did a fighting scene in my ‘Fly’ video. That was the skit for the ‘Roman Holiday’ video, it goes perfectly for the song, what don’t y’all understand?” Reception Roman Holiday" received general acclaim from music critics. Jessica Hopper, from Spin, called the song "nearly flawless" and "pure theater, the closest hip-hop's gotten to its own Bohemian Rhapsody, full of thrilling crescendos and twitchy verses that verge on the ridiculous, but always shift toward the triumphant." She described the song as part of the "gratifying front end (of the album)" and dismissed "subsequent pop tracks as a paying of the piper": "The too-perfect, Dr. Luke-produced songs are her penance for sneaking deranged yodeling ode 'Roman Holiday' in there. Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone, says "Nicki Minaj is a purist's nightmare. She doesn't just straddle pop categories, she dumps them in a Cuisinart, whips them to a frothy purée, then trains a guided missile at the whole mess." Al Fox of the BBC says of Minaj "Few artists in Minaj’s position would dare to take risks as bold as this," while citing "Roman Holiday" for its "Major-key, tap-along pop sensibilities; disquieting lyrical content; wide-eyed, over-pronounced Valley Girl patter; a reworking of O Come All Ye Faithful; shuddering, skeletal beats."All Music Guide lists "Roman Holiday" as a "Track Pick," while Rolling Stone, in its 4 Star review, names the song a "Key Track" on the album. Charts "Roman Holiday" upon the release of ''Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded ''debuted at number 78 on iTunes. It charted at 13 on Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. It also reached to #29 and #31 on the US R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Songs and the US Rap Digital Songs, respectively. References Category:Songs Category:Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded Category:2012 Category:Spotify tracks Category:Songs featuring Roman Category:Songs featuring Martha